west virginia

July 19, 2018 -
A campaign to encourage politicians to reject contributions from electric utility monopolies aims to recast Virginia politics-as-usual as unethical. Though the pledge effort is meeting opposition from those who benefit under the current conflict-ridden system, it's still going strong — and has spread beyond the state.

June 29, 2018 -
Dealing a blow to the labor movement that will disproportionately affect people of color, the conservative majority's ruling that public-sector workers represented by unions should be able to pay nothing for that representation endorses a policy first promoted in the 1940s South by pro-segregation business interests hostile to organized labor because of its work on behalf of racial justice.

June 1, 2018 -
This November, voters in Alabama and West Virginia will weigh in on ballot questions about adding anti-abortion provisions to state constitutions. The legislatively-placed measures are part of a broader effort to limit women's access to reproductive health care that's made dramatic headway in Southern states in recent years.

May 24, 2018 -
A key permit voided. An environmental justice complaint. Accusations of fraud. In recent weeks, Dominion and Duke Energy's proposed pipeline to carry fracked gas from West Virginia at least as far south as North Carolina has faced several setbacks. But the developers plan on moving ahead with the $6.5 billion project anyway — and they're investing in creating a political climate favorable to those plans.

May 17, 2018 -
The state's public schoolteachers held a historic march to the legislature this week to demand higher pay and per-pupil spending — the latest in a series of teacher revolts that have won policy changes in states including Kentucky and West Virginia.

April 27, 2018 -
A federal appeals court recently ruled that Florida can keep its harsh re-enfranchisement system in place. But a November ballot referendum there could lead to reforms, which have also recently come to states including Alabama and Virginia.

March 7, 2018 -
The Court's ruling in the Janus case could financially hurt public-sector unions, but it could also lead to broader First Amendment rights for those unions in the South and across the country.

January 31, 2018 -
The proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline has secured a key permit from the Cooper administration, but opponents are keeping up the fight against the project, which would have a dramatically disproportionate impact on low-income and non-white communities.

January 29, 2018 -
With controversy still raging over memorials to the Confederacy, some state legislatures are taking steps to protect them — while some cities are finding creative ways to skirt those laws.